Trophies are intact and will be re-synched, and PS+ cloud saves will be restored.

PSN has been down since 20th April. Sony said earlier this week it hopes to have some features up and running by 3rd May.

Sony is thinking about "ways to show appreciation" for PS3 gamers' "extraordinary patience".

The hack has seen personal details tied to 77 million PSN accounts stolen. Sony has confirmed information such as email addresses, home addresses, IDs and passwords were not encrypted.

Sony says it has found no evidence that credit card details have also been stolen, and insisted such data was encrypted.

But a security expert has this morning claimed that "low-level cyber criminals" are currently shopping around lists containing the credit card details of 2.2 million PSN members.

Kevin Stevens, an online security expert with TrendMicro, said the details, including credit card security codes, were up for sale on illegal forums.

Stevens' claim is unsubstantiated, and conflicts with Sony's reassurance that credit card security codes were not held by PSN. He also admits to not having seen the database, "so I can not verify that it is true".

Financial Fraud Action UK (FFA UK), an organisation that co-ordinates fraud prevention in the UK, told Eurogamer that there is no need for gamers to cancel their credit cards "at this stage".

"The banking industry has robust processes in place to protect its customers' accounts by monitoring for suspicious or irregular card transactions," FFA said. "If Sony confirms that card details have been compromised, and provides details to us of those accounts, card issuers can place alerts on these accounts. Further steps, such as blocking the account and/or issuing new cards can be taken if necessary.

"There is no need for customers to contact their bank or card company at this stage. However, customers should continue to do what they should normally be doing - checking their statement and keeping a close eye on their account for any unusual activity – if they spot any they should then contact their bank or card company."